Jake Ellison

Online Managing Editor

Jake Ellison is central to providing overall accuracy, timeliness and creativity to KPLU's online product. He has spent over 17 years in the news business, 10 of which were as a reporter, editor and online producer at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He spent the last third of those years working solely in the online environment as a writer, curator and editor and has the distinction of being among Seattle's pioneering web-first reporters.

Jake has won a number of journalism awards and honors, been a panelist and speaker on journalism and leadership, and has a Masters Degree in creative writing.

1:20 pm

Fri February 3, 2012

Thieves dove up an alley in the University District Tuesday morning and somehow managed to lift a 70-inch, 1,260-pound stainless steel propeller over a retaining wall and fence and make off with it.

Update: Seattle Parks has possession of the propeller that was stolen earlier this week from the University District. After discovering the stolen propeller at the Northwest Corporate Park in Kent, a security guard contacted the Kent Police Department.

Thu February 2, 2012

Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest lamented the loss of grants from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. Last year those grants amounted to of more than $75,000.

“Like so many of you, we are saddened by the Komen Foundation caving to anti-choice extremeists and letting politics interfere with health care. Local Komen affiliates provided close to $75,000 for life-saving breast cancer screenings at PPGNW health centers in WA and ID last year,” the group wrote on its Facebook page.

However, the regional Planned Parenthood group also said its breast health program would continue, “and it will be stronger than ever thanks to supporters coming forward to stand with our patients.”

“Mommy, what’s that?” Normally an innocent question from a child … unless you’re at a Seattle Public Library!

Libraries around the country are frequently troubled by the conflict of your First Amendment right to view “protected speech” and others who just have to watch pornography in a public library setting.

The most recent publicly exposed incident in Seattle occurred at the Lake City branch of the Seattle library system. Julie Howe said in a public email that her 10-year-old daughter was disturbed after looking over the shoulder of a man last month as he watched pornography at the branch.

Humanosphere

10:31 am

Tue January 31, 2012

These are first-person accounts of events, experiences, problems, successes or even mini-profiles of the people encountered in the field who have made a particular impression on the writer. These stories should ideally include photos and possibly video. The purpose is to share the human-level, personal experience of working in the field on our platform, which is capable of reaching a broad and diverse audience.

After announcing that Facebook and the State Attorney General’s office would announce a “joint legal strategy" this morning, the AG’s office followed up with an email requiring journos sign a non-disclosure agreement.

The email was sent to all journalists invited to the press conference at Facebook's Seattle office involving company officials and Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna.

Thu January 26, 2012

After announcing that Facebook and the State Attorney General’s office would announce a “joint legal strategy" this morning, the AG’s office followed up with an email requiring journos sign a non-disclosure agreement.

The email was sent to all journalists invited to the press conference at Facebook's Seattle office involving company officials and Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna.

A documentary on a cell of the radical environmental group that claimed responsibility for the arson that destroyed a University of Washington research facility in 2001 has been nominated for an Oscar.

The documentary’s exploration of the ideology and tactics involved in radical environmental actions and the law enforcement agencies determined to make arrests raises again the intense passions and dramatic consequences surrounding the arson at UW.

Winter Storm

4:32 pm

Thu January 19, 2012

Gov. Chris Gregoire has declared a state of emergency for an ice storm that landed on top of heavy snow in western Washington, causing treacherous travel, power outages and threats that buildings could collapse. So far, the storm has left more than 200,000 people without power.

Seattle city officials are asking residents to get home before dark, if possible, because they fear even worse icing conditions by night fall.

Ice closed Sea-Tac Airport in the early morning before one runway was reopened. The State Patrol said it had responded to about 2,300 accidents in a 24-hour period ending at 9 a.m. Thursday, roughly quadruple the average number.

Snowfall 2012

3:00 pm

Thu January 19, 2012

With snow still on the ground in Seattle, we thought it would be fun to share our snapshots of the scene. We'd love to see yours. You can post them and your thoughts in the comments section of this post.

Let us know if you've put up a YouTube video also (like the pretty darn cool one after the jump):

Animal fun

1:22 pm

Sat January 14, 2012

The Seattle Aquarium announced today the birth of a new sea otter pup at its facility on Pier 59 in Seattle. The young otter was born today just before 5:00 a.m. to the mother otter Aniak – who herself was born at Seattle Aquarium in 2002.